Proibito di Mario Monicelli tratto da La madre di Grazia Deledda come esempio di “western deleddiano”
Mario Monicelli’s Proibito Based on Grazia Deledda’s La madre: A Case Study of the ‘Deleddian Western’

Summary/Abstract: In the 1950s, films inspired by the work of Grazia Deledda and, at the same time, by the western genre appeared. Called ‘the Deleddian westerns,’ they typically featured the conquest of a wild environment, submission to the laws of nature, the primacy of local unwritten customary laws over the official law of the state (bound up with the frequent motif of justice), and stories of outlaws from the early 20th century. In the article, we analyse Mario Monicelli’s film Proibito (1954; Forbidden), inspired by Deledda’s novel La madre (1919; The Mother). Thematising justice, Proibito is a story of bandits and a priest who must intervene for the sake of peace and the good of the community. The film’s plot transports viewers to the non-existent Sardinian Far West and goes beyond the concerns of Deledda’s novel. Though coming closer to American cinema and the western film model of the time, Forbidden went down in the history of Sardinian cinema for its realistic and non-invasive portrayals of Sardinia’s iconic symbols, such as nuraghes, village churches, costumes, and local festivals. In this article, we compare the novel and the film to conclude that the two substantially differ in their renderings of the character of the mother and her relationship with her son, his inner conflict, religion, and superstition. All these aspects are absent or marginalised in the film.

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